Biofilms

Topic

Bacterial Biofilms

Student Exploration

Already In A Theater Near You

Many of you are familiar with antibiotics. If you're lucky, doctors have prescribed them to you to to fight off bacterial infections like strep throat (despite what some people think antibiotics are not very helpful for viruses like the flu (influenza)). Some of you may have heard of "drug resistant" strains of bacteria. Bacterial strains that have changed to counter the effects of the drug, natural selection has even been invoked to explain how resistant bacteria survive the antibiotics and lead to the changes in future generations. But is it really that simple? Maybe not, maybe it's all about biofilms, groups of different bacteria working together.

Extension Investigation

use the below resources to answer the following questions

Why are biofilms more resistant than planktonic bacteria?

What are cytokines?

What kind of bacteria tend to cause acute bacterial infections?

What kind of bacteria tend to cause chronic bacterial infections?

How does multi-layering in the biofilms increase antibiotic resistance?